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HS: How do you approach production? Given the credits - Clipse, Foxy, Willy Northpole - there’s certainly a hard edge to those artists, but each has a defined lane. Approaching a new project do you think about who the beats will be for and tailor, or shop crafted beats to people you think would take to them?
CR: Well the above songs we did for these artist are dope records but our music is much more complex then those songs we did. We approach our songs like cinematic scores and make everything big. Usually we create songs and give them to artist, or they will ask us for a particular sound and we would set time aside to create that record. But each process with these artists is different.
HS: With the overseas success - the sound has a global pop appeal, but why do you think Europe might take to it faster?
CR: Europeans have a different love for music than Americans. They appreciate the live shows and the effort to create them a hit record. Plus they don't ask for much. Give them an uptempo song with a memorable hook and you got their hearts. With Americans, we are too hard on ourselves. It makes us become the best but our audience as seen and heard it all. So you have to always be on point. Not to say you don't have to do the same in Europe but they just appreciate the whole aspect of an artist from videos to shows to the lifestyle.
HS: What does DJing regularly do for you guys in terms of understanding audience needs, desires, and what really moves a crowd?
CR: Wow, we loving djing. It is the A&R for our songs. We test it and watch the crowd react. We make a lot of songs based on the audiences' reaction to songs that we create. Djing is also our way of escaping the real world. We just zone out and play good music.
HS: Tell me about how you connected with Clinton Sparks?
CR: Well, Clinton's team saw our movement and reached out to us. Then the rest was easy. We just discussed our to partner up and make things bigger for all of us.
HS: He’s got such a defined name in hip-hop - his work with the Clipse and even Kardinal setting the tone. I hear Clinton Sparks, and don’t really think electro. Do you have any concerns with that?
CR: We don't think of the Hip Hop thing so much. At the end of the day Clinton is international so he has an audience who wants to hear us and we have music to share. Plus Clinton is the most genius marketing guy around. He knows what he's doing. So we really just focus on creating the songs and making them the best.
HS: The album is set to have features that span a lot of genres. Who were you most excited to land?
CR: I won't give away a lot but , having Bjorn from Peter Bjorn and John come along was the craziest one. They are legends and for them to respect what we do and add to this project is a blessing. But there are other people on there that are just amazing to even have access to.
HS: Who would you love to work with in the future?
CR: We wanna work with Bono asap. We just love his presence and his music. Stevie Wonder is another one we hope to land soon. He just makes the best songs ever. We wanna work with everyone really, but I wanna try some stuff with the Noisettes, the Killers, Sade, Grace Jones, Air, Young Jeezy and a lot of other folk.
HS: Finally, you’ve got HBO and MTV co-signs. How important is that in today’s music market, to have multimedia plugs, and how much does it mean to have these specific broadcast companies behind you?
CR: These days it means a lot. You have to start to find new ways to gain capital from this music. Plus you have to see all media as an outlet for more customers. To have HBO and MTV back unsigned artist is nuts to us. Them rocking with us is another blessing and we take it seriously. It helps us to think out the box and run our company with pride and a sense of achievement.
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